Voe & Pam - Voe Newsletter Interview

Voe is a Wellington based Producer/Artist who makes psychedelic Kiwi hits. Thanks to Voe for answering the following questions:

Who are your role models in the NZ music industry?

I'm a big fan of Snapper, the Verlaines, The Chills, Salad Boys, Shacklock Meth Party, I was a So So Modern fan when I was younger, I'm interested in Kody Nielson's work as a producer/recording engineer. I enjoy a lot of the Flying Nun stuff as you can see, but what I really like is that despite all that contentious 'dunedin sound' branding they did at least have a sense of community by working around and with each other.

Do you have any plans for future collaborations with other musicians? Who would they be?

Always collaborating with friends such as Lilah and Pam. I also record artists; I've done some recording with Rhys Baker and Mermaidens. I've always been interested in playing in a Neil Young cover's band and I'll probably start a lame folk band when I'm in my forties.

That my music is self-produced and recorded, and the difference is that I don't want to compete with studio levels of production/sound quality I'd rather create my own aesthetic. I think that's important because it can be unrealistic when you're young and broke like me to try compete with ridiculous production values, do it yourself!

Stay productive, be prolific and record other artists music. Keep a live presence in music and hopefully one day get enough interest to expand the operation. I'd love to set up a recording/jam space with some homies. I'd love to see other artists joining a collective of sorts that is actively interested in promoting music as a community. I see too often that labels or bands are restrictive and very aesthetically concious. While that's important in establishing a brand and you need to have a filter in order to maintain a standard of quality, I feel that to foster creativity you need to get everybody interested in creating music with a sense of community conciousness. I understand the irony of bedroom musicians like me wanting to engage socially but it is possible, especially as social media can be such a powerful tool. My long term goal is promote music and encourage other artists to be productive so that we can produce some quality material. I'm more interested in being friendly with other artists/bands then trying to be ruthless and solely driven for success. It's just difficult because being an artist in this country is often not taken seriously and is not treated as a financially realistic endeavour.

Where do you get your inspiration to create music from?

I'm just a working class man, I get my fuel to work from getting paid poorly as a cook and trying to sustain a balance in life with work, relationships and making music. I feel that artistic expression is a fairly intrinsic quality though.

What can we expect to see from Voe over the next year?

At least two more EP's and possibly a full length by the end of the year, currently working on a few concepts, a 'classic kiwi hits EP' and an EP that's specifically to listen to while skateboarding, so up-tempo rage-tunes...

Tell us about Voe’s next release.

My next release was mostly recorded around May/June in my bedroom. There was a lot of heavy things going down at the time but also I was extremely happy to be with my partner so the record is evocative of those two main factors. Also job stress is a big factor because working as a cook can be the pits in New Zealand, but also highly rewarding don't get me wrong!

I feel like it's a bit more accessible than some of my earlier material and my recording skills have slowly been getting better over the years due to upgrades in technology and the DAW that I use. When I first started out I used an mp3 that could only record for 15 seconds, you had to plug it into the computer and load the file onto the computer after every track and then play it back. It was a real nightmare and none of the songs ever really made any structural sense...

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